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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22834912">One Little Did (or, it’s never too late to apologize)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scarlet_Gryphon/pseuds/Scarlet_Gryphon'>Scarlet_Gryphon</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Adventure Zone (Podcast)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Comments are highly appreciated!, Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 14:13:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,056</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22834912</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scarlet_Gryphon/pseuds/Scarlet_Gryphon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Joseph Stern is a man of honor, even if his coworkers seem to have very little of it.</p>
<p>(An overdue apology for the two months Mama was in the ‘custody’ of the FBI)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Mama &amp; Agent Stern (The Adventure Zone)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>37</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>One Little Did (or, it’s never too late to apologize)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>“Coulda-Woulda-Shoulda” (c) Shel Silverstein</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Joseph feels like, for the most part, that he’s a brave guy. Hell, he’s barreled through a portal connecting two worlds without knowing who or what was waiting on the other side (though Barclay tore him a new one about that after everything was said and done), but this… This is something strangely more intimidating than an unknown world.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He closes his eyes briefly to center himself. He can do this, he knows he can. Besides, it’s not like Haynes or any of the other DUP agents will bother doing it, meaning only Joseph is left to do what needs to be done. He squares his shoulders, curls a hand into a fist, and knocks.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There’s a pause and a faint clatter before Mama’s voice calls through the wood of the door.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Come in!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Joseph turns the handle and lets himself into her workshop, the scents of freshly carved wood and sawdust tickling his nose. He fights the urge to sneeze, nose twitching gently against the mild assault. There’s a tall log about seven feet high or so standing on end in the middle of the workshop, its shape still rough and unfinished. Mama’s removed most of the bark and looks to be starting on finding the way of the wood, as Barclay likes to call it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mama herself is standing near the log, clearly just having set down her tools if the blanket of fresh sawdust at her feet is anything to go by. She raises an eyebrow, but that’s the only sign she gives of his unexpected presence.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Agent Stern. How can I help you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Joseph keeps himself from wincing at the cool, neutral tone of Mama’s voice, but only just. “I’m not here in any official capacity,” he says, leaving the door open behind him as he steps into the workshop. He doesn’t want her to feel like he’s trapping her in any way, even though they’re both well aware that she could hold her own against him if necessary. “Please, it’s just… it’s just Joseph right now.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Joseph, then,” Mama agrees easily.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I came here because I wanted to talk to you,” Joseph continues on, “and because I know that even if my higher-ups do apologize in any fashion for what happened to you, it’ll likely be little more than an impersonal letter and maybe a monetary recompensation that reads more like a bribe than any sort of true apology. Even if it means very little in the grand scheme of things, I wanted to apologize for my part in what happened. It shouldn’t have-” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He cuts himself off, his frustration at the situation getting the better of him as he runs a hand through his hair and ruins the neat silhouette that the light coating of mousse he usually uses helps create. “It shouldn’t have happened. I did everything I could to keep them from discovering what was really going on here, but it turned out for nothing anyways.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A second eyebrow briefly joins the first in its attempt to make a break for Mama’s hairline before both settle back into neutrality.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You knew what was going on before the shapeshifter?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Not at first,” Joseph admits. “I tended to brush odd things off, and I certainly didn’t know about Barclay being Bigfoot until he revealed himself to me, but I did catch Jake and Dani having a running contest as to who could get away with the most ridiculous things in my presence.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He laughs, a fond smile curving his lips upward. “Neither of them are particularly subtle, even if they think they are.” He waves a hand absently. “Anyways, I kept sending reports back in to the DUP that focused more on the mundane aspects of the town. I’m pretty sure Haynes thought I was stupid, incompetent, or both towards the end. I just… I just wish I could’ve done more.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mama regards him for a long moment and then leans back against a nearby worktable. “You familiar with Shel Silverstein?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Joseph blinks, caught off-guard by the non-sequitur. “Of course. I loved his poems as a kid.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“There was one that stuck with me for a while, and it used to be one of Jake’s favorites when he was a kid, probably because of the illustration that went with it. I have the damn thing memorized even now, probably ‘cause of how short it is.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She clears her throat and then begins to recite, the rise and fall of her voice capturing Joseph’s attention immediately.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>All the Woulda-Coulda-Shouldas</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Layin' in the sun,</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Talkin' bout the things</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>They woulda-coulda-shoulda done...</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>But those Woulda-Coulda-Shouldas</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>All ran away and hid</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>From one little</span>
  </em>
  <b>
    <em> did</em>
  </b>
  <em>
    <span>.</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You </span>
  <em>
    <span>could</span>
  </em>
  <span> have done a lot of things,” she continues on, pushing away from the worktable. “You could’ve tried to get Haynes fired. You could’ve run. You could’ve hid away from it all and waited for it to all be over. Instead, you waited and acted when the time was right.” She smirks. “Don’t think I didn’t notice you kept everyone’s attention on the gate instead of lookin’ for my people out in town. I might not have been lucid all the time, but I did hear things. People’ll talk about pretty much anything if they think you’re not able to do much. You could’ve done a lot of things, Joseph Stern, but what matters is what you </span>
  <em>
    <span>did</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She looks up at the log, a bittersweet smile on her face. “You’re not the only one who did something unexpected that helped to protect this town and the people in it, and you won’t be the last, I suspect, ‘specially not if Barclay has anything to say about it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mama turns and looks at him, her gaze piercing. “I’ll take your apology with all the spirit it’s meant, but know that you have nothing to be sorry about, not with me. Not everyone might feel the same, but that’s their problem. Now, go on and get. I heard Barclay’s makin’ those fancy cheese puffs you like so much, and it’d be a shame for you to miss out on them.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Joseph smiles and then nods before letting himself out of the workshop, shutting the door as he goes. His apology might not count for much in the grand scheme of things, sure, but for now? It means the world.</span>
</p>
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